Science Weekly
Alok Jha and the Guardian's science team bring you the best analysis and interviews from the worlds of science and technology.
100 days until Cop15: what next to save nature?
It is now less than 100 days until Cop15, the UN convention on biological diversity. At these talks, which are taking place in Montreal, Canada in December, governments from around the world will come together to agree targets aimed at halting the destruction of the natural world and protecting biodiversity…
What is raw sewage doing to the UK’s rivers and seas?
Holidaymakers heading to British beaches and rivers were faced with a very unpleasant problem this summer – raw sewage. The sewage system usually carries rainwater and dirty wastewater from bathrooms and kitchens to treatment works but during ‘exceptional events’ such as heavy rainfall, when it is likely to be overwhelmed,…
What’s going on with UK teenagers’ mental health?
Many teenagers will receive their GCSE results today. These exams can have a significant impact on what they do next, so it can be a stressful time for students, their teachers and parents. Over the past decade, reported mental health problems among teenagers have been on the rise. A recent…
How did mammals come to rule the world?
About 325 million years ago, when Britain sat near the equator as part of the supercontinent Pangaea, two populations of a small, scaly, swamp-dwelling creature separated from each other. One of these lineages, over millions and millions of years, evolved into mammals. Our ancestors shared the planet with dinosaurs, survived…
From the archive: Will Silicon Valley help us live to 200 and beyond? – podcast
‘In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.’ While Benjamin Franklin’s quote remains true for most, the same might not be said for some of the world’s billionaires. And their efforts to extend life are under way too. Most recently, a Silicon Valley startup…
From the archive: what are the hidden costs of our obsession with fish oil pills?
They may be one of the world’s favourite supplements but, according to a study from earlier this year, more than one in 10 fish oil capsules are rancid. Most of the oil comes from Peruvian anchovetas, a type of anchovy that is also used to feed pigs, poultry and farmed…
From the archive: Are western lifestyles causing a rise in autoimmune diseases?
Could the food we eat and the air we breathe be damaging our immune systems? The number of people with autoimmune diseases, from rheumatoid arthritis to type 1 diabetes, began to increase around 40 years ago in the west. Now, some are also emerging in countries that had never seen…
From the archive: Why are climate and conservation scientists taking to the streets?
In early April this year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a new report giving the world just 30 months to get greenhouse gas emissions falling. Beyond that, we’ll have missed our chance of limiting global heating to 1.5C. As this summer of heatwaves, droughts, wildfires and floods prove,…
James Lovelock and the legacy of his Gaia hypothesis
James Lovelock, the creator of the Gaia hypothesis, died last Tuesday on his 103rd birthday. Known as something of a maverick, the scientist and inventor was one of the most influential thinkers of the past century. Our global environment editor, Jonathan Watts, tells Madeleine Finlay about spending time with Lovelock…
Is it time for a complete overhaul of car wreck rescue techniques?
For decades, the absolute priority when rescuing victims after traffic accidents has been to minimise movement of the spine. Emergency services go to great lengths to keep the patient still while they are cut free from the wreckage, because a shift of just a millimetre could potentially lead to the…
Which Tory leadership candidate is the ‘greenest’?
Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak have clashed on a number of issues as they battle to become the next prime minister. However, as heated debates hit our television screens, the climate emergency has been alarmingly absent from discussions. Ian Sample chats to Guardian environment correspondent Fiona Harvey about which candidate…
Learning how to cope with ‘climate doom’
The impacts of the climate crisis are undeniably here. Heatwaves, droughts, wildfires and flooding are causing devastation around the world. And yet, we still aren’t seeing the drastic action that’s required to avert climate disaster. As things get worse, it’s easy to give up hope – but ‘climate doomism’ is…
Have Biden’s climate pledges just been killed off?
US president Joe Biden campaigned on climate issues, but recent events may have sounded a death knell for his promises. Last week, his attempts to pass sweeping climate legislation were thwarted – by a senator in his own party. And in June, a landmark US Supreme Court ruling has greatly…
‘Falling from the sky in distress’: the deadly bird flu outbreak sweeping the world
The H5N1 strain of avian influenza is sweeping across the world, killing millions of birds. In the UK, it’s causing disastrous losses of seabirds – populations that were already being hit by a number of threats, including habitat loss, overfishing and global heating. Biodiversity reporter Phoebe Weston tells Madeleine Finlay…
James Webb space telescope: thousands of galaxies in a grain of sand
This week, Nasa unveiled the first images from the James Webb space telescope – much awaited pictures that show our universe in glorious technicolour. The $10bn telescope, now 1 million miles from Earth, will allow scientists to look back to the dawn of time. Prof Ray Jayawardhana, who is working…
Why have Australian honeybees been put into lockdown? Podcast
The varroa mite, a deadly honeybee parasite, has finally found its way into Australia. Varroa destructor affects every other major beekeeping area in the world, damaging honeybees and transmitting viruses across hives. Now, in a fight to contain the mite, the state of New South Wales has destroyed 1,533 infected…
Roe v Wade: why vasectomies are no answer to abortion restrictions
The US supreme court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade will have a significant impact on the reproductive health and the safety of women who become pregnant in the US. Researchers have estimated it could increase maternal mortality in the country by 20%. The ruling also sparked debates around men’s…
New Covid wave: Is this what ‘living with covid’ looks like?
The UK is yet again facing a wave of Covid infections, with cases soaring by more than half a million in a week at the end of June. This time, the wave is driven by even more transmissible variants of Omicron known as BA.4 and BA.5. But with all Covid…
Is polio in our sewage as worrying as it sounds?
Last week, public health officials declared a ‘national incident’ after they found vaccine-derived poliovirus in London sewage samples. No cases of polio symptoms have been reported but there is evidence the virus is spreading. So what does it mean to have found the virus almost 20 years after the UK…
Shitcoins: are pointless cryptocurrencies a scam or a gamble?
When the Guardian’s UK technology editor Alex Hern was contacted on Twitter to ask if he was involved in a new cryptocurrency called Tsuka, he assumed they just wanted him to buy it. He ignored the messages. But soon after Alex realised that, without knowing it, he was already involved…